After a Charms class at the end of February, Joel took a copy of "Advanced Charms Theory" to ask Professor Flitwick for advice. He had been studying on his own for a long time, and his progress had already surpassed that of his peers. After all, he now had a super talent.
and understanding ability.
Professor Flitwick pondered for a long time after listening to Joel's question about the Silent Curse. The noisy environment disturbed his thinking, and the question raised by Joel was not simple. He had to say: "Joel, you will follow me later."
Go to the office, I have a collection of books on how the silencing spell works."
He turned around and explained the Firming Charm to Haylis. One of the disadvantages of taking classes in Ravenclaw House was that the teacher could not leave the classroom on time by stepping on the bell. Ravenclaws were good at asking all kinds of questions.
Ten minutes later, Haylis left without finishing, holding a copy of Joel's notes in her hand. Joel asked her to follow her classmates back to the common room.
"You are making rapid progress in self-study," Professor Flitwick said with a smile. "It's a good thing to be eager to learn, but don't swallow it all. You must have a solid foundation in the curse book."
"If you have any questions, feel free to come to me for help."
Joel nodded in agreement with gratitude. Except for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors who change every year, most of the professors at Hogwarts have passed the professional qualifications and are open to students' questions. Even Snape is the same.
But when you ask a question, he will use dismissive words to mock your brain.
They climbed up the empty stairs and soon arrived at the Ravenclaw Headmaster's office on the eighth floor near the west side of the castle.
There were two people standing outside the office. Joel recognized them as Ron and Harry.
Flitwick's attitude towards the two of them was very cold. He just nodded, took out the key from his arms and opened the door.
The three students filed in. Professor Flitwick's office was no different from before. Books were scattered randomly on the ground, and it was very difficult to find a place to stay.
He didn't care, and waved his magic wand to make the books return to their places automatically.
"Let me find where I put that book..." Professor Flitwick scratched his head, and two hairs fell from the fragile roots.
"Professor Flitwick?" Harry finally couldn't help it. From the beginning of their meeting, Flitwick had been ignoring them.
"What's wrong with you?" Joel asked Ron.
Ron sighed, "Malfoy insulted Hermione in Charms class. His original words were, 'Miss Know-It-All was just petrified. What a shame.' When Harry and I heard this, we were furious and couldn't help shouting.
Malfoy was punched twice in the face."
Joel: "..."
"Do you two understand what is wrong?" Professor Flitwick asked with a frown. He was still waving his wand to make a book fly out of the bookshelf. There were so many books in the office that he had forgotten which one
Where did he throw the Silencing Curse scroll?
"We shouldn't beat up our classmates..." Harry said hesitantly, that's what he said, but if he was asked to choose again, he would still not hesitate to take action. In his heart, friends are very valuable and he does not allow others to insult them at will.
Flitwick sighed. He found the book he was looking for on the top of the bookshelf. He pulled it off with a flick of his wand. The book was covered with dust, which made Flitwick's nose itchy and he hit it twice.
It's not over until you sneeze.
"If you have any conflicts, please resolve them privately after class." He rubbed his nose and handed the book to Joel. "What you do in class will disrupt the order of the class and set a negative example for your classmates. Now
People in Hogwarts are panicked, and you know it yourself. I don’t want to see any violence in public places, which will make the atmosphere in the castle more tense. I leave you to do voluntary work just to let you figure this out."
"What about the work content of the two of us..." Ron asked.
"Just arrange the books in my office," Flitwick waved his hand, "I have already taken care of this matter. You can go back quickly. Joel, don't even think about getting free prostitution from me and sending the two of them to Gel."
Go back to the Llanffindor common room."
The three of them said goodbye and left here, walking down together. Gryffindor Tower is different from Ravenclaw Tower. It has two passages, one is in the corridor on the eighth floor of the castle, and the other is in the corridor with Ravenclaw.
The tower is also on the outside of the castle. Both passages must pass through the portrait of the Fat Lady before entering the public room.
Since the implementation of control measures at Hogwarts, the passage to the eighth floor of the castle has been closed, and Gryffindor students can only enter the tower from the outside of the castle and climb the stairs.
The three of them had nothing to talk about. Since Ron entered Hogwarts, the communication between Joel and him has gradually become less and less, especially since the last time the magic spell on the Quidditch field went wrong and Joel was injured.
Half a month later, the two of them had almost zero intersection.
Harry admired the strength Joel showed in the Duel Club, but he was sensitive and saw that Ron had no intention of speaking, so he gave up the idea of getting to know Joel and simply pretended to be a quail.
The whole journey was quiet and silent.
When they reached the stairs on the fifth floor, a burst of conversation reached the ears of the three of them.
"Listen, you don't want me to tell this story, do you? If other students know the truth, you won't be able to gain a foothold in Hogwarts, let alone you want to run for the Care of Magical Creatures professor next school year.
Job." One of the voices sounded slightly threatening.
Another voice was full of fear, "Gilderoy, what do you know?"
There is only one Gilderoy in Hogwarts at the moment, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Gilderoy Lockhart. The latter's voice can be easily identified as that of the gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid.
What are the two of them doing on the fifth floor? Now Hogwarts has concentrated all the classrooms on the first basement floor and the first and second floors above ground of the castle. No one comes here at all on weekdays.
Joel and the three of them realized something was wrong and quickly stopped.
"I know all the things you committed fifty years ago," Lockhart's voice was low, completely opposite to his usual casual tone. "You released the monster in the chamber of secrets and allowed it to kill a girl, and then was killed by Hogg."
Watts fired..."
"Aragog didn't kill her!" Hagrid argued vehemently, "I just raised a spider! It won't attack humans at all!"
This was a secret he kept deep in his heart, but Lockhart easily penetrated his psychological defense. He didn't want to leave Hogwarts, and he couldn't accept the suspicious and jealous eyes of those students.
"Really?" Lockhart's voice was very playful, "I suggest you explain this issue to the Minister of Magic, Mr. Fudge, and the ten school governors of Hogwarts. As a friendly reminder, if you don't explain it properly, you will have trouble.
You may drag Professor Dumbledore into the water. He must know your dark history, right? What kind of situation will he face if parents know that the principal has harbored a murderer working in Hogwarts?"
"How dare you..." Hagrid was extremely panicked. He could understand this logic.
"What exactly do you want to do?"
"Don't worry, Hagrid..." Lockhart's voice was like a devil's whisper, whispering in Hagrid's ear, "As long as you do me a favor, I will keep this in my heart forever."
"It's just a small favor, I won't embarrass you..."
The sound was interrupted by a rush of footsteps, and Percy poked his head out from the stairs downstairs, "Ron, I was just going to find you in Professor Flitwick's office. Come with me quickly. Our parents sent us something."
, you can go give it to Ginny and chat with her for a while."
Ron glanced at the corridor. From this angle, Lockhart and Hagrid couldn't be seen at all.
"Okay, why don't you go?" Ron glared at Harry and Joel, indicating that they would be silenced, so that they might continue to eavesdrop later, "As a prefect, can't you care?
Ginny?"
"...Penello and I have something to talk about," another curly brown head popped out from beside Percy downstairs. Joel recognized her, Penelo Crevat, the prefect of Ravenclaw's fifth year.
, "Besides, wasn't I the one who went to the hospital wing last week?"
Ron walked downstairs immediately, while Harry and Joel stayed there holding on to their last glimmer of hope.
"And you two," Percy looked at the two of them, "Harry and Mr. Taylor, my mother also brought you some things. Come and follow Ron to the common room."
It was over, it was all over, Ron wanted to step forward and strangle Percy to death.
The three of them were forced to go downstairs and leave together.
Mrs. Weasley has always been thinking about her old friendship. Not only does she send gifts every Christmas, she even gives Joel a share of the apple pie given to the Weasley brothers.
It was impossible for Joel to accept this favor in vain. After getting a large box of pies, he simply followed Harry and Ron to the hospital wing to visit Ginny. Before leaving, he asked Penelope Crevat to return to the common room.
At this time, he told Hailes that he might come back later after going to the hospital wing, so that she didn't have to wait for him.
"I knew from the beginning that Lockhart's stinky peacock was not a good person!" On the way to the infirmary, Ron discussed the news they had just heard with the two of them, "He actually threatened Hagrid to replace him.
work!"
"In comparison, I'm more concerned about what Hagrid did fifty years ago," Harry sighed, "What happened to the dead girl, and what happened to the spider named Aragog."
?”
Joel knew all the answers to these questions, but he couldn't find a good starting point to tell them. He couldn't say that he had dreamed about the whole process of Myrtle's death while sleeping, right?
After experiencing this incident together, Harry and Ron regarded him as a member of the same boat and shared the news they got. After all, Joel was also a famous figure in Hogwarts, and gossip among the lower grades always spread.
With his legend, who doesn’t like a handsome and talented senior?
"S?" Joel's mind raced rapidly after learning about the ink stain in Hermione's hand. The first thing he thought of was Slytherin. Then he took apart the name of the biggest suspect, Gilderoy Lockhart, and there was even an S in it.
None.
Could it be that Hermione was instructing the name of the monster in the Chamber of Secrets? But the initial letter of basilisk is not S. In a hurry, Hermione must have written down the most convenient word to associate with it.
"Do you want to tell Professor Dumbledore the news?" Ron said as the three of them stepped up the steps.
"I think it is necessary," Harry agreed, "Headmaster Dumbledore must have sufficient awareness of precautions."
"We can also visit Hagrid," Ron had indeed changed a lot during this time. On the one hand, it was because the repression of being helpless when his relatives and friends were injured turned into motivation, and on the other hand, because no one borrowed his papers after Hermione was petrified.
Copy, he must learn to think independently and "get some information out of him."
They stayed in the medical room for half an hour before leaving.
During dinner, they wanted to find Professor Dumbledore, but they didn't expect the principal to go to New York, USA. As the president of the International Federation of Magicians, he had to give a speech at the conference.
It would take two days for Professor Dumbledore to come back. They could also find the principal through other means, such as finding the portrait of the founder of Ilvermorny School in the British Ministry of Magic through the portrait of Principal Everard, and finding Deng Xiaoping through multiple information transfers.
Bullido.
This is very troublesome, and you have to enter the principal's office. By the time they get through all the difficulties and obstacles to get the news out, Dumbledore might have already arrived.
But no one expected that the attack would break out so suddenly.
That night, the Hogwarts infirmary was attacked. Madam Pomfrey blocked Hermione and Ginny with her body. Three of her ribs were broken and she was petrified. To make matters worse, the news
It was discovered by the house elf the next morning.
"We have to shut down Hogwarts!" Malfoy shouted in the common room. "This is too dangerous. I have to get my dad to deal with this!"
Mrs. Pomfrey graduated from Slytherin House. She is an out-and-out pureblood. She has not even a trace of Muggle blood within three generations, and she is absolutely "upright".
But even Madam Pomfrey, who had such pure blood, was attacked, and Malfoy could not guarantee that he would survive.
When Ginny Weasley was petrified, he had reason to say that the Weasley family were pure-blood traitors. Also in the purge list, when Hermione Granger was petrified, Malfoy believed that the Mudbloods should get out of Hogg.
Watts, the Slytherin heir could not have done a better job.
When it was the turn of Madam Pomfrey, who was also a pure-blood, to be petrified and injured, Malfoy began to panic. He realized that the murderer seemed to be attacking indiscriminately and did not care about the blood of the victim.
Professor McGonagall looked at her petrified colleagues and wanted to inform Dumbledore on the other side of the ocean, but was stopped by Lockhart.
"Minerva," he said seriously, "if Albus knew about this, how do you think things would develop?"
"Of course we're closing Hogwarts!" There were only four deans and Lockhart present. Professor McGonagall couldn't control her emotions. She said impatiently, "I won't let my students and colleagues fall into this trap again."